Unidentified infestation

[Gela]

My garden has become infested with a weed I cannot identify. It is amazingly prolific and has invaded the compost heaps, the lawn and under the trees. Each plant grows from a tiny bulb and has a mass of little bulblets around it which will aslo sprout. It has a small round leaf with a tiny snitch out of it so that it is not-quite heart-shaped. It will start growing from very deep down and has a long white stalk when it finally produces a leaf. The people who owned the house before me used to mow the lawn and dump the clippings in one area. This area had become horribly slimy by the time I moved here and the clippings had arranged themselves into nasty slabs and the little bulbs of my unidentified weed love living inside the slabs. Can anyone tell me what it might be and how to get rid of it, if possible without using viscious chemicals as I don't want to contaminate my veggies?

[vicky]

Celandine - yellow 'buttercup' flowers in spring?
PCA Alien Plant Working Group - Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)

[Pumpkin Becki]

Oh dear, I thought these were native. I've been carefully protecting a little clump from my builders!! Maybe I'll have it out - thought it was a food source for bees at this time of year...

[shirlthegirl43]

Maybe better to read British info about the plant.

Lesser Celandine, recognition and eradication

[Pumpkin Becki]

Oh dear, I'd better have it out then...

[Gela]

Unidentified infestation

Many thanks - I'm off to the Garden Centre this minute. There is no way I can eliminate this by hand. Have never used gliphosate before but there is a first time for everyting I suppose. Thanks again

[Flummery]

I think they're lovely. Wish we had some in our garden!

[vicky]

Apparently you can eat the bulbils...although you'd have to have a good infestation to get much of a meal! I like the idea of eating weeds, revenge!

[Snadger]

Oh dear, I'd better have it out then...

Definition of a weed:-

A plant considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially one growing where it is not wanted.

If you like it and want it...leave it be!

[Snadger]

Glyphosate is a non-selective weedkiller and will kill everything it touches!

[Two_Sheds]

Each plant grows from a tiny bulb and has a mass of little bulblets around it which will aslo sprout.

Sounds like OXALIS


Google it, there's different kinds

[Gela]

I went to the Garden Centre and got some glyphosate which seemed to be the most recommended treatment. The instructions were to dilute 50ml to FOUR litres of water if using a watering can and 50ml to ONE litre if using a spray, although both methods treated exactly the same area. Does anyone know why? I went back to the Garden Centre to ask them and they were baffled. They said they had never noticed the discrepancy before. I have tried getting on to the Bayer web page but there is no way you can contact them direct and there is no FAQ page.

[Two_Sheds]

A sprayer is much more effective - with watering cans a lot of it runs straight off the plant, onto the soil and is wasted.
Therefore you will need a higher concentration of product to get the same result, if using a watering can (don't bother - use a sprayer from the poundshop)

Or have I got that arris about face?

[Gela]

Yes "Two sheds" - that sounds logical - but according to the instructions, you have to use a much higher concentration if you use a SPRAYER - which I do: in other words, 200ml for 4 litres (for a sprayer) instead of 50ml for 4 litres (using a watering can). This is the baffling bit. Unfortunately we don't have a pound shop on the Island (at least I haven't discovered one yet). Howeer - you can't win 'em all - and sometimes you can't win any!!

[King Carrot]

I'm in the wrong place!!!!!